Yes, it’s important to eat and drink to nourish your body, but the requirements can and do change throughout your life.

In my younger years I had little interest in nutrition, other than filling a grumbling, empty belly. Being a traditional Brit, (beer drinker), alcohol was fearlessly consumed, often in large quantities. The under 25 folk nearly always consider themselves immortal, (me included), and what might negatively affect others will not affect them. I suppose I fell into that trap but never even considered it.

So, how did that self-inflicted abuse affect my running abilities?

I did carry a few extra pounds of weight and my body was not “in-tune” for running races. It didn’t greatly affect recreational jog/running though as I adjusted my pace and distances to suit. This wasn’t ideal but I wasn’t unhappy about it either as I enjoyed my carefree life and partying.

Eventually the light bulb clicked on with life events. I got married and due to the diligence of my wife started eating healthy. That word “Healthy” means a lot of different things to many different people. What is healthy for one person may not be for another.

What Impacts Your Nutritional Requirements And Choices?

There is no one right way to achieve nutritional balance.

Your age will require that you eat/drink/supplement a certain way due to physiological changes.

Performance Enhancement: I do not recommend or agree with illegal forms of performance enhancement. That’s cheating your fellow competitors, plus the danger of potential known and unknown negative side effects.

If it was just about caloric intake and proportions of carbohydrates, protein and fats you could ingest bland spaghetti, bland soy and a slab of lard to satisfy those requirements. Yeuk!! Definitely not a good choice.